





H 




Copyrights 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



Our Reformation 



AN EXPOSITION OF THE MODERN 

POLITICIAN'S METHODS, AND 

RESULTS. 



By 
JAMES H. BOLITHO 




Broadway Publishing Co. 
835 Broadway : New York 



1912 






Copyright, 1912, by 
James H. Bolitho 



gCf.A3273l8 



"'There is a time to keep silence} saith Solo- 
man; but when I proceeded to the fifth verse of 
the fourth chapter of the Ecclesiastes, 'and con- 
sidered all the oppressions that are done under 
the sun, and beheld the tears of such as were 
oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the 
side of the oppressors there was power' ; I con- 
eluded this was NOT the time to keep silence; for 
Truth should be spoken at all times, but more 
especially at those times when to speak the Truth 
is dangerous." — S. T. Coleridge. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I 



Why We Are Passing Through a Political 

Revolution .... 7 



Chapter II 
How the Worker Got His Eyes Open . 16 

Chapter III 

The Desire for a Great Moral Uplift Is Influ- 
encing Our Body Politic . . 56 



Our Reformation 



CHAPTER I. 

Why We Are Passing Through a Political 
Revolution. 

There is a political revolution in progress — 
"old things are passing away and all things are 
becoming new." Political evolution is as certain 
a fact as is intellectual, moral and religious evo- 
lution. The pity is that our moral evolution has 
been in the wrong direction. The principle of 
"do unto others as you would have them do 
unto you" has been abandoned, and the god of 
gold, with all its manifold immoral influences, 
holds the most prominent position in the seat of 
our affections. The youth believes in fair play 
no longer than he becomes old enough to vote. 
Everywhere everybody is looking for the fellow 
from whom he can get the most personal benefit, 
so that he can keep up his end in the mad whirl 
of a thoughtless, don't-care life. Everywhere 
everybody wants to do the least possible work, 
and enjoy the greatest possible product of labor. 
Everywhere the politician is greater than the 
statesman. Everywhere the success of some 
political party is more desired than the success 
of the nation. 



8 jSDut deformation 

Of course, if work should cease entirely, it 
would mean awful things! And the great mas9 
of the people, of necessity, must labor. It is this 
great majority of the people constantly toiling, 
no matter how bitter the task, which is the salva- 
tion of the country. But the sweaty, brawny son 
of toil is looking up from his task at the rotten- 
ness in every branch of our nation — executive, 
legislative and judicial — is looking at the poli- 
tician, who wants his country to do something for 
him, sitting in the seat of the former statesman, 
who desired to do something for his country; is 
looking at the money king, "who toils not, neither 
does he spin," but who disregards all law and 
order and rides rough-shod over the rights of 
the people: and this sweaty, brawny son of toil 
righteously gnashes his teeth, for the prospect 
for his children is not bright, and his old age 
casts its shadow before him — a horrible shadow! 

This working man remembers that in the days 
when his forefathers were beginning their memor- 
able struggle for independence from Great 
Britain, the author of "Common Sense" wrote, 
"Let us make this fight now that our children 
may have peace." But he cannot see how his 
children are going to have peace. It appears to 
him that every provision made by the forefathers 
for the purpose of securing to their posterity the 
blessings of peace and happiness has been de- 
stroyed by the political and financial grafters, 
who have made the offices of the nation "dens of 
thieves." 



flDut Reformation 9 

His grandfather was a Democrat, who fol- 
lowed the fortunes of that party until it had be- 
come so great that it fathered slavery, and taught 
that it was just to deal in the bodies and souls 
of men, and to cast asunder that which God had 
joined together. Besotted of conceit, born of 
continual power, his grandfather's party wor- 
shipped the false god of slavery, disregarded 
principle, and went down in defeat and disaster, 
before the party of his father, which was led 
into power by Lincoln, who said: "I hold if God 
ever intended one set of men to do all of the eating 
and none of the work, He would have created 
them all mouths and no hands, and if God ever 
intended another set of men to do all of the 
work and none of the eating, He would have 
made them all hands and no mouths." Because 
his father followed this party of Lincoln, his son 
became a Republican, and remained a Republican, 
until he saw the corruption creeping into most 
every act of his party — because of unprecedented 
political success, the Republican party got the 
same idea that a man who has continual success 
gets: the idea that it could do as it liked and not 
meet defeat and disaster. Not heeding the pit- 
falls of its once powerful opponent, it gathered 
in the riff-raff of the country — crooks, high and 
low, male and female, joined its ranks, flim-flam- 
ming honest members, and worshipping the ring- 
ster and trickster — until the Republican party set 
up as its god the golden calf, and wrote as its first 
commandment, over the shining dollar, this sen- 
tence, u Thou shalt have no other god before me" ! 



io fiDur Reformation 

So, as the party of his grandfather went down 
worshipping the god of slavery, the sweaty, 
brawny laborer beholds his party going down wor- 
shipping the god of gold. 

He sees one hand of the ringleader reaching 
into the money bags of capital and the other hand 
of the ringleader at the throat of liberty. Not 
for thirty pieces of silver, but for tons of gold, 
stained with blood and crime, Judas, the politician, 
is betraying the Republic, which had promised 
so much to mankind — once the hope of the world; 
a nation set upon a hill, which could not be hid 
from the proud eyes of the sons of toil in every 
land, and of every tongue. 

As the county in which this sweaty, brawny son 
of toil lives is run politically just like the county 
in w r hich every other son of toil lives, an illustra- 
tion of the manner in which the ringleader there 
exercises complete political control practically will 
illustrate how the trick is done elsewhere. 

The ringleader only needs to control two of- 
ficials in any county to have such political power 
as is necessary to dictate the politics of the county, 
and all parts of the county; and as the ringleaders 
are only agents of capital, as goes a county, so 
goes the country. The ringleader must control the 
official w r ho has the power to draw the grand and 
petit juries and the official who has the power to 
grant or revoke the liquor licenses. This is suf- 
ficient, but, as a matter of precaution, he usually 
also controls the person who prosecutes criminals 
in the county. We intend to illustrate how this 
scheme works, and for that purpose will call the 



SDm Reformation u 

person who draws the juries "the sheriff," the 
person who grants and revokes licenses "the 
county judge," and the person who prosecutes 
criminals, "the prosecutor." Taking the average 
ring-ruled county, what does this Republican, or 
Democratic, sweaty, brawny son of toil behold, 
with reference to its system of justice? 

Where the county judge is appointed the task 
for the ringleader is much easier than where he is 
elected, and, especially, where he is appointed by 
a higher authority, who is elected by the same 
party to which the ringleader claims membership, 
because the ringleader would be instrumental in 
whipping in the votes that elect the higher author- 
ity, and would have a claim upon the higher 
authority, who usually appoints according to the 
recommendation of the ringleader. It is also 
very easy where the higher authority, which ap- 
points the county judge, is under obligation to 
the capitalists from whom the ringleader gets his 
campaign funds, no matter what party the higher 
authority is elected by. About the time when 
the county judge is to be appointed, the ring- 
leader selects someone whom he can use in that 
position, and recommends that the higher author- 
ity appoint that person county judge, and that 
person, because of the recommendation of the 
ringleader of the county, gets the appointment. 

After we show how the ringleader, through the 
control of the county judge and other officials, 
runs the county, we shall have shown how he 
controls the county judge when that official is 
elected. 



12 ©ur Reformation 

Once the person whom the ringleader has 
recommended is appointed county judge, the ring- 
leader's power begins. But to make his position 
more secure, he usually gets the prosecutor of 
the pleas appointed in the same manner. Through 
these two officials he makes the liquor interests 
his friends, and those dealers in liquors who will 
not be his friends, he puts out of business by hav- 
ing the county judge revoke, or refuse to grant, 
their licenses. The prosecutor of the pleas, whom 
he has had appointed (and whose successor, if it 
becomes necessary, he may have appointed), is 
absolutely under his control, and, as a conse- 
quence, houses of ill-fame, places where liquors 
are sold illegally, and all classes of criminals, if 
they are useful to the ringleader, are not prose- 
cuted; but those who are not useful to him are 
prosecuted, and punished severely as a rule. So 
it behooves such class to work for the interests of 
the ringleader. Outside of the large number of 
votes he controls through these offices, he figures 
on, and gets, a great many respectable and chris- 
tian gentlemen, who would vote their party ticket 
without a cut if the devil were on it, as he is in it. 
We will not say which — the liquor dealer or the 
respectably or christian gentleman — is the more 
to blame for his support of the ringleader! 

Now, of course, with this class of vote-getters 
behind him, the ringleader picks out some appar- 
ently high-charactered — kindly remember that 
word "apparently," for it usually makes one think 
of hypocrisy — gentleman to run for sheriff on his 
party ticket. The candidate for sheriff, of course, 



Dtit Reformation 13 

is absolutely under the ringleader's control, and 
he sends forth the command that his candidate 
for sheriff be elected. The liquor interests, and 
the criminals who fear the prosecutor of the pleas 
and the county judge, know that if they disobey 
the commands of the ringleader, he has the county 
judge and prosecutor of the pleas still in office, 
and that he will bring them to judgment thereby, so 
they get out and hustle; the sheriff is elected, 
and the ringleader's power is complete. He now 
controls the county, and he knows that by control 
of that he also can help dictate who shall be of- 
ficials up higher, either personally or through 
those who furnish him campaign funds — -so he 
does not fear any punishment from higher 
authority. 

Now, then, what does he do to strengthen his 
position? First, he commands that the county 
judge and prosecutor of the pleas must consult 
him regarding the administration of justice; that 
the sheriff shall not draw on a jury any person 
whom he does not desire, and he sees to it that 
only those are drawn who will do his bidding. 
He also dictates the appointment of party lead- 
ers in the municipalities and wards who are fav- 
orable to him, and through them he controls the 
election of the minor officials, and keeps posted 
as <to what is going on in each community. 

He knows, when a person is charged with 
crime anywhere in the county, whether the per- 
son is usable or not. If he is, the prosecutor of 
the pleas will not prosecute or the grand jury will 
not indict, according to which course he deems 



14 fl)ur Reformation 

wisest in the particular case. If the person is not 
usable, the ringleader will see that he is indicted, 
to demonstrate that justice is real in that county; 
and, now and then, he has innocent persons in- 
dicted, if they are not discreet in their speech, 
regarding how things are going on in the county. 

In civil actions, he will see to it that his friends 
win, whether or not they have the right side of 
the controversy. 

If the ringleader is wise, he lets no opportunity 
get past without strengthening his position. The 
up-to-date ringleader even has a firm of popular 
lawyers in his county, to whom he turns all his 
friends' business, to whom he makes the sheriff, 
or jailkeeper, turn the business of those in jail, 
and to whom the judge must show favors, when 
the ringleader desires it. Through these lawyers, 
who whisper praises of the ringleader in their 
clients' ears, he gets more popularity, and power. 
The up-to-date ringleader also has control of the 
county newspapers. He gains this, and holds it, 
through the official printing, and the advertising 
which those beholding to him, can give to the 
newspapers. If a newspaper bucks, and opposes 
him, he squashes it — puts it out of existence, one 
way or another. The up-to-date ringleader, also, 
pretends to believe thoroughly in religion; the 
religion most influential in the sphere of HIS 
government. He praises the modes of faith; 
donates to the churches — who know his power, 
and lick his hand; proud of his petting! 

By this system, then, the sweaty, brawny 
laborer, when he becomes familiar with it, can 



SDm ^formation 15 

see how it is possible for those who live in idle- 
ness to prosper, while those who toil get hardly 
sufficient to maintain life decently; he can see why 
it is useless to go into a court of justice for re- 
dress from the wrongs committed by the idle 
class against the working class; he can see why 
newspapers will not publish the truth about cor- 
ruption in high places, why most church members 
are hypocrites, why certain lawyers are popular 
and have so much influence over judges and juries, 
why certain men become sheriff, county judge, 
and prosecutor of the pleas, why houses of ill- 
fame, places where liquors are sold illegally, and 
certain criminals, can exist, and thrive; and why 
preachers, who claim to follow Jesus, dare not cry 
out against the rotten things in Denmark. 

But how does this laborer, whom the ringleader 
figures to be so ignorant and innocent, find out 
about this system? Because he must have found 
it out, or we should not be passing through a 
political revolution. 

To be sure, he has found it out! He sees it 
in every office in every municipality, from village 
to state, and nation. He realizes that those whom 
he and his fellow workingman go through the for- 
mality of electing to office are merely tools of 
money — men who toot a horn, ring a bell, beat a 
pan, or act like a puss-in-boots in preceding King 
Graft, to proclaim his greatness. The producer, 
therefore, knowing that such is not the proper 
form of government, has resolved to have a ref- 
ormation. The worker, the only real producer, 
has seen: and is acting. 



1 6 SDui Eefotmation 



CHAPTER II 



How the Worker Got His Eyes Open 

If you are ill, and call in your physician, what is 
the first thing he does, to ascertain your trouble? 
Does he not look to the symptoms? This is pre- 
cisely what the producer has been doing. He 
knew for a long time that things were not going 
on just as they should go, but lack of time and 
opportunity prevented him from learning the 
cause. "Sawing wood and saying nothing," ap- 
parently always satisfied, the politician did not 
know that the worker was putting two and two 
together and making four. But he has been do- 
ing this, and he has ferreted out the "why" and 
"wherefore." 

Did you ever try to keep a cork under water? 
If you did, remember that job, because it illus- 
trates how difficult k is to be rotten within and 
not have putrid blotches without. 

We shall give merely a few illustrations of the 
political corruption cropping out in one county; 
we could give many more, but these are sufficient 
to call to the reader's mind similar incidences 
in every place where the ringleader plies his art. 

Every story which we relate here is absolutely 
true, but the names are fictitious, for reasons 



SDur Iftef conation 17 

which the reader will appreciate. We could illus- 
trate most every crime known to man, wihich will 
be seen by the few narratives following: 

John Majak 

John Majak was a young Slavonian who had 
been in the United States just three months. He 
lived with his brother-in-law, and sister, and 
worked in the mines. He could not speak Eng- 
lish. His brother-in-law had been in the country 
several years, and was a citizen: though he did 
not know what that meant but thought it meant 
the right to vote. The brother-in-law was presi- 
dent of a Slavonic Society; that was one reason 
why he was a citizen! The brother-in-law had 
also saved up a little money. But he had some 
enemies among the people of his own nationality. 
As he was an upright man, and had the society 
behind him, those enemies did not dare assail him, 
but when John Majak came, they plotted to get 
square with his brother-in-law through him. 
First, they consulted Max Moneystein, a shrewd 
Jew, who, by craftiness, had risen from a pack- 
peddler to such influence and power that it was 
whispered about that he could get anything he 
desired in the county courts. Max Moneystein 
had made a lot of money by getting ignorant for- 
eigners in trouble, having them arrest each other, 
and requiring them to put up in his hands all the 
cash they could rake and scrape together, before 
he would go their bail. He knew nobody else 
would go their bail, and he managed to make him- 



1 8 SDui Reformation 

self safe by having the magistrate destroy the 
papers, or pulling wires at the county seat so that 
those he was bondsman for would not be indicted. 
Of course, he always kept the money that w T as put 
up in his hands by the foreigners. Any trivial 
matter of dispute among that class of people, he 
managed to have aired before the magistrate as a 
heinous crime, a crime which called for a severe 
penalty. The poor foreigners believed what he 
told them; and they ate out of his one hand, 
while, with the other hand, he picked their 
pockets. You may be sure, then, that he was 
all ears when the enemies of John Majak's 
brother-in-law came to reveal their desires to him. 
They told him that John Majak had no money, 
but that the brother-in-law had some, both of 
his own, and the use of that of other Slavonians. 
This was sufficient ! Max Moneystein told the 
enemies of the brother-in-law what to do. Fol- 
lowing his advice they went home and got John 
Majak drunk, so drunk that he did not know 
what he was doing. They then took him as near 
to a neighbor's house as they dared to go, and 
left him there to sleep off his drunk, thinking that 
when he awoke he might do some damage. John 
Majak aroused himself later, and being unable 
to walk, he crawled into a near-by dog-coop, where 
the poor brute w T hich occupied the coop, being 
more humane that John's fellowmen, shared the 
comforts of its bed with him. John slept on far 
into the sunlight of the next day, when he became 
sober enough to appreciate his unpleasant situa- 
tion, and, ashamed of himself, he crawled out, 



2)tu Eeformatton 19 

and set his footsteps toward home. As he was 
crawling out of the coop, however, he was seen 
by one of his brother-in-law's enemies, one who 
had watched in vain to catch John in some mis- 
chief. John went home, with a sad heart to think 
how low he had made himself — so low as to sleep 
with a dog! The enemy, who had seen him crawl 
out of the coop, went back to the Jew, dissatisfied; 
but with the determination to relate what he and 
the others had tried to do with John Majak. 
Foxy Max Mbneystein saw his chance in the fact 
that John Majak had crawled out of the dog- 
coop. He advised the man w T| ho had seen John 
come out of the dog's-coop to make a complaint 
against John for committing the crime against 
nature with the dog, and got the other Slavonians 
who did not like John's brother-in-law to testify 
that they had seen John committing the act of 
sodomy. Max Moneystein took the man who 
was to make the complaint to the magistrate, and, 
acting as his interpreter, made it appear that 
John Majak had actually committed the crime, 
and that they could prove it. The complaint 
was made, the warrant issued, and the constable 
arrested John Majak. Everything seemed to be 
working like clock-work for the conspirators. But 
Max Moneystein got a little too anxious; he was 
afraid the magistrate might not fall for the frame- 
up, at the hearing, and might let John Majak go, 
or place him under such a small amount of bail 
that John's brother-in-law could raise it without 
going to Max Moneystein. If the scheme should 
end in that manner, their labors would have been 



20 SDm Hefonnatton 

in vain! So Max Moneystein did that which he 
had often done with other magistrates in like 
cases — he went to the magistrate and secretly 
promised to give him fifty dollars if he w T ould put 
John Majak under one thousand dollars bail. He 
told the magistrate that John was guilty, and if 
his bail was too small, when he got out he might 
run away. Max Moneystein went away from 
the magistrate satisfied that he had been success- 
ful, that his scheme would work, and that for go- 
ing John Majak's bail, he would probably make 
three hundred dollars. The magistrate watched 
Max as he went away, and believed that there was 
a nigger in the wood pile. The magistrate then 
and there resolved that justice should be done in. 
John Majak's case. At the hearing the matter 
was thrashed out thoroughly, and the conspiracy 
was apparent. The enemies of John Majak's 
brother-in-law swore that the dog was chained 
to the coop, that it was a bitch, that it was black 
in color, and that they had seen John committing 
the act out in front of the coop, where anyone 
could have seen him. The owner of the dog and 
his wife and son were witnesses also. They 
sw r ore that the dog was not a bitch, that it was 
white in color, that they had all seen John crawl 
out of the coop, and go away, but that he had 
committed no crime; they also swore that they 
had seen the complainant standing alone watching 
John when he crawled out and went away. The 
magistrate let John go without fixing any bail on 
him. Max Moneystein was furious. He went 
to the magistrate, and told him that he would 



SDur Reformation 21 

get square with him. Max Moneystein did get 
square with the magistrate. When the next grand 
jury was drawn for the county, it was learned that 
Max Moneystein was among those who were on 
it, though Max Moneystein was bondsman for 
several persons charged with crime whose cases 
were to be disposed of by that grand jury. After 
several days' labor, the grand jury finished its 
work. The persons charged with crime whom 
Max Moneystein was bondsman for were not in- 
dicted. The magistrate, who refused to hold John 
Majak to bail, was ! He was charged with having 
accepted money from John Majak's brother-in- 
law to let John go! The magistrate had never 
seen John's brother-in-law. After much wrang- 
ling, the prosecutor of the pleas had to drop the 
case against the magistrate, for lack of evidence- 
but it left a stain upon the magistrate's name, cost 
him about two hundred dollars for lawyers, and 
cost the taxpayers of the county about as much — 
and all this because Max Moneystein had a pull 
with the politicians who ruled the county through 
the ringleader. 

Mike Shonsky's Bail 

Mike Shonsky, ignorant of American judicial 
paths and not knowing that politics play the most 
important part in the administration of justice in 
this country, woke up one morning, out of a 
drunken sleep, and found himself in a dark cell, 
where the only evidence of it being day time out- 
Side was the small rays of light which smiled in 



22 SDm Reformation 

upon his sore head through the bars of a very 
small hole, called a window. Mike was a poor 
Hungarian, with a large family, not much knowl- 
edge of the world, nor of the poisoned stuff, called 
American liquor, which men are licensed by law 
to sell to make other men crazy, cause them to 
commit crime, and give the law the chance to 
punish the criminal whom the law has made! 
Mike worked hard, way down, two thousand feet 
or more, in the bowels of the earth, where the 
legalized highwaymen who rob such as he in the 
name of Justice, would not dare to even visit. 
On his way from work, he had stopped in a 
saloon for a drink, had been treated by the saloon- 
keeper to bait him on, and had met some of his 
fellow workingmen, of his own nationality; — who 
are also permitted to treat each other, to the end 
that the saloonkeeper shall not fail to get the 
money which such men earn, before the needs of 
their families are satisfied. Of course, because 
of the accursed treating habit, Mike got drunk — 
got filled with too much poison — and a fight was 
started; not by men, but by booze! The saloon- 
keeper stood by the other fellows, whom he knew 
as good customers. Mike was beaten, and thrown 
out. He was so drunk that he was soon asleep. 
A policeman — one of those wise men, dressed in 
true blue, who know more about men's constitu- 
tional rights than Daniel Webster ever knew (you 
have no doubt seen samples of them, for they are 
in every municipality) — came along, and jerked 
Mike up. The saloonkeeper saw the policeman; 
ran out, and called him to one side, and, to save 



$S)ut Reformation 23 

himself, whispered a lie in the policeman's ear, 
to the effect that Mike had started a fight in his 
place, and they had to put him out. That settled 
it! Such men as Mike must not interfere with 
the sacred rights of a saloonkeeper! No! No! 
And the obtruding policeman, even, did not dare 
go against the saloonkeeper, for the saloonkeeper 
represented the county ringleader in that munici- 
pality; so the policeman complained against Mike 
for malicious mischief, and for assault and bat- 
tery on the saloonkeeper; and Mike Shonsky 
landed in the cell, where we find him at the be- 
ginning of this story. In a few hours — for Jus- 
tice is slow and dignified! — Mike was brought 
before the magistrate, and the charge read to 
him. He told his story best he could, and the 
clerk entered a plea of "not guilty" for him. The 
magistrate fixed his bail at three hundred dollars. 
Mike Shonsky had lived wise — he had not broken 
down his health by being a glutton, nor made his 
purse small by emptying it into his stomach— so 
he told the magistrate to send for his wife, who 
had three hundred dollars, for his bail. Just at this 
time Max Moneystein came into the magistrate's 
office, and heard what Mike Shonsky said about 
his money. The Jew knew that there was no 
chance for him to go Mike's bail, but he skipped 
over and saw the sheriff. After a talk, the sheriff 
sent one of his deputies over to the magistrate's 
office, got Mike Shonsky, and took him to the 
jail. Then Max Moneystein went for Mike's 
wife, and she brought their hard-earned three 
hundred dollars down, and put it up in the sheriff's 



24 Dur deformation 

hands for cash bail. Mike Shonsky went home 
with his wife. Both were happy and both were 
sad — happy, to think that Mike was out of jail; 
sad, because their savings were in the sheriff's 
hands. They did not know what was meant by 
the word "bail," which the magistrate had roared 
out with so much force, and dignity. Nobody 
told them what it meant — but a kind Fate seemed 
to keep this fact from the Jew and the sheriff. 
The Jew knew, however, that if Mike was in- 
dicted by the grand jury, the three hundred dol- 
lars would soon vanish, and his instinct led him 
to use his pull to prevent an indictment. Of 
course, Mike was not indicted; not because the 
Jew loved Mike less, but the money more. Time 
went on. Mike Shonsky did not make any in- 
quiries, because the sheriff had told him that they 
would send for him when they wanted him. But 
one day, Mike's little daughter's school teacher 
explained to her what the word u bail" meant, 
and little Mary told her papa, who then began 
to think that he ought to get some money back, 
but he did not know just how to go about it. 
Thinking that Max Moneystein would be his 
friend, he went to him and told him that he 
wanted some of his money back. Max saw his 
chance. He told Mike that it would be lots of 
trouble to get the money, but that if Mike Shon- 
sky would sign an agreement that Max Money- 
stein should have half of the money if he could 
get it back from the sheriff, Max Moneystein 
would try to get it. Mike Shonsky, not knowing 
that the sheriff should have returned his money 



ffl)ur Reformation 25 

to him long before that time, and thinking that 
he would not get it, signed the agreement, and 
went home to await results. Max Moneystein 
went to the sheriff with his power of attorney, 
got the money — gave the sheriff fifty dollars, put 
one hundred in his own pocket, gave Mike Shon- 
sky one hundred and fifty dollars — and ail par- 
ties were happy. Happy from a sense of Justice ! 

The Man Who Bit the Dynamite Cap 

Pete Mosko, a Pole, was a miner. He lived, 
with his wife and two babies — one two years, the 
other two months' old — in a little, ramshackle 
shanty, belonging to the company he worked for, 
to whom he paid three dollars per month for 
rent, and, in addition, he had to pay his boss two 
dollars per month for the privilege of living in 
it, and five dollars per month for the privilege of 
working for the company. The company's store 
took the rest of his wages — except a few pennies 
for spending money — out of his pay-envelope 
each month, claiming that it was entitled to that 
much for household supplies, while about twelve 
times a year the priest stuck his finger into the 
poor miner's pocketbook, and took out each time 
t 1 ^e tax God levied on the souls of the members 
of Pete's family. Still Pete Mosko was happy — 
"where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise" ! 
So affairs went on for some time, but, to cut down 
expense, one day the company discharged all the 
experienced foremen under its employ and sub- 
stituted cheap-men in their places. Pete's new 



26 j©ur Kefotmation 

foreman was one of his own countrymen, who had 
worked in the mine but a short time. One day 
Pete went on his way to work, as happy as usual. 
He had kissed his babies and wife a good-bye 
before he left that hut, called a home. He did 
not know it — they did not know it ! These things 
are hidden from the wise and prudent; how could 
this family know them? God knew it; God knew 
it before Pete was created — for God knows every- 
thing: He sees the end from the beginning! God 
knew when he created Pete Mosko that he was 
going to be married, and have a happy little fam- 
ily around him; that he was going to work in that 
mine, for that company, among those thieves who 
robbed him with impunity, in the name of right 
and in the name of religion. God knew that when 
Pete was 36 years old, that that incompetent un- 
derground boss was going to put a dynamite cart- 
ridge in his mouth and bite it on the fuse — that 
that dynamite cartridge was going to explode, 
blow the foreman's silly head off, and kill Pete; 
leaving a widow, with two babies, in a strange 
land, with no friends, and no means of earning 
a livelihood! God knew that Pete Mosko's 
"good-bye" to his dear ones that morning was 
his last "good-bye" on earth! God also knew 
all the other circumstances connected with this 
case — why God made these people with such ends 
in view, is revealed unto "babes and sucklings"; 
and we do not know. But we do know: That 
Pete was buried. That his wife went to see about 
what the company was going to do for her and 
her babies. That the company got a foxy inter- 



SDur iftefotmation 27 

preter to advise Pete's wife to apply to the court 
to have a proper person appointed to represent 
her and her children, so that the matter could 
be adjusted with the company. That the inter- 
preter was appointed as that proper person, and 
that, as that proper person, the interpreter settled 
with the company for one hundred and fifty dol- 
lars, which he gave to Pete's wife, and hustled 
her off to the old country. That the interpreter 
received two hundred dollars from the company 
for his good work — and that that was the end 
of the case. 

The Father's Will That the Son 
Laughed at 

William Donahan, a widower, had two sons 
— James and Frank. Though Donahan had 
kept a saloon for years, and Frank had worked 
about it, Frank did not drink, but James, who 
had never worked about the saloon, did drink. 
William Donahan's son James had never been of 
much use to his father, while Frank had worked 
hard to make the business pay, and had always 
been a dutiful son. So one day William Dona- 
han called in his lawyer, and had his will made. 
He cut out James entirely, and left everything 
to Frank. He instructed his lawyer that he de- 
sired his will carried out in every particular just 
as it was made, and to that end, he constituted 
and appointed his lawyer the executor. Shortly 
after making his will, William Donahan died, 
and James learned that he was not left anything. 



28 Dur Kefotmation 

Malice boiled in his heart; and he resolved to 
take his spite out on Frank — Frank who had 
never done any harm to James ! Frank was a 
Catholic, but his wife was a Protestant, and her 
folks did not like Frank, because they did not 
like his religion. James knew this. James started 
the right way to make trouble — he used religion 
as the clothes-pin to fasten the cats' tails to- 
gether, then he threw them across the clothes-line 
of falsehood, and sat back to see the fur fly. A 
story that Frank was untrue to his wife, James 
circulated so that Frank's wife's relatives got 
news of it. As they w r ere already doubtful of 
Frank because of his religion, they cultivated 
James' lie until it grew to be a large story, and 
Frank's wife, easily persuaded, picked up her 
traps and hiked home to mamma. She refused 
to have anything more to do with Frank, because 
it was said by somebody — although nobody could 
produce Mr. Somebody — that Frank was intimate 
with the negro cook! Frank knew this w r as a 
lie, but how could he extract it, when it had once 
been believed by a woman? Frank loved his wife, 
and baby. He could not bear his trouble — he 
did what many a stronger man has done with less 
cause; he took to whiskey to drown his sorrow. 
Poor Frank did not know that woman and whis- 
key are the causes of all there is of woe in the 
world. Frank had not been out into life far 
enough to learn that. James had — and James 
was glad to see Frank flee from the trouble made 
by woman to the trouble made by whiskey. Like 
Cain, he gloried in his brother's downfall! So 



£Dur Reformation 29 

James persuaded some of his own besotted com- 
panions to assist in Frank's downfall, and such 
men were eager to get such opportunity, as Frank 
was spending money, and would probably treat 
many times. As these men helped drag Frank 
down, James was careful not to drink in the 
presence of anyone, and he pretended that he 
was not drinking. Secretly, however, he conferred 
with the politician, over a bottle of wine or whis- 
key; the politician saw a chance to rake in a lot 
of votes through Frank's downfall; he kept James 
headed in the right direction to put Frank out 
of business, and, incidentally, put the property, 
which William Donahan had accumulated by 
years of thrift and economy, into the hands of 
strangers to the Donahan family. One morning, 
James got Frank's wife to go see the lawyer who 
had drawn William Donahan's will. To be sure 
that she went, James went with her, and before 
they went, the politician had got in touch with the 
lawyer. Their visit, therefore, was a success. 
Although the lawyer knew William Donahan de- 
sired that Frank should have the benefit of his 
estate, and that James should have nothing from 
it, and knowing also of how James had caused 
Frank's downfall, nevertheless the lawyer saw a 
chance to make some money, and he assisted in 
gnawing away the Donahan estate. As attorney 
for Frank's wife, he got James to petition the 
court to appoint a guardian to look after Frank, 
and his property, on the ground that Frank was 
an habitual drunkard. The usual red-tape was 
unravelled, after which, thanks to the ringleader, 



30 SDur Reformation 

James' father-in-law (an old man so ignorant that 
he was scarcely able to write his own name), was 
appointed guardian of Frank. The court may 
as well have appointed James! The men on the 
guardian's bond were irresponsible, and one of 
them was a saloonkeeper who made it his business 
to keep Frank drunk as much as possible. The 
guardian did not see Frank once, during the short 
term of his guardianship; he was too busy looking 
after the property which Frank's father had left 
to Frank! Whenever the guardian was about to 
make an accounting to the court, it was seen that 
Frank was very much under the influence of liquor, 
and especially from the day when some third party 
stuck a citation in his pocket, citing him to appear 
and hear the reading of the report, until after the 
day when the report was accepted by the court. 
Shortly after the guardian was appointed, he 
filed his inventory, which showed that Frank was 
worth several thousand dollars. Just two years 
afterwards, the guardian filed his final account, 
and was discharged as guardian — not because 
Frank had quit drinking and no longer needed a 
guardian, but because the several thousand dollars 
had vanished, and it was not worth while to have 
a guardian for a drunken bum, who had no spoils 
to be divided among the thieves who hang around 
courts of justice — calling themselves: respectable 
gentlemen, eminent lawyers, learned judges, pat- 
riotic citizens, and, above all, Christians, and so- 
ciety leaders! 



£Dur Reformation 31 

The Beautiful Swede Girl 

It has been said that a certain beautiful Swede 
girl left her dear old parents in Sweden, and came 
to America to earn her living. She was so beau- 
tiful that she attracted the attention of a certain 
millionaire, who saw her coming from the ship, 
among the other emigrants, and, though he was a 
married man, his desire was to possess her. He 
shadowed her, and found that she went into a 
certain employment agency. It did not take him 
long to employ her, as she was seeking work. 
After he had hired her, he telephoned to a certain 
ringleader, whom he knew, and who was capable 
of anything if it meant the possession of a beauti- 
ful woman. The ringleader placed the Swede 
girl in a position at a lonely country roadhouse 
in his county, where he and his friends, of similar 
character as the millionaire who hired the girl, 
could have access to her, and do as they liked 
with her, under the protection of the ringleader, 
who controlled the county. The girl was an 
honest, upright girl. All attempts to betray her 
failed. The millionaires became furious, and re- 
solved to ruin the girl at any cost. Three of them 
came out to the little road-house one afternoon, 
and filled up on the demon whiskey. Just after 
dark, the landlord sent the Swede girl to the 
grocery store, which was about a mile away 
through a lonely woods, on a road where there 
was no houses. The drunken millionaires were 
concealed at the darkest part of this woods, which 
the road led through. The Swede girl never got 



32 2Dur deformation 

to the store — she never returned to the little road- 
house ! The millionaires returned late that night, 
filled up on more whiskey, got into their automo- 
bile, and rode away. Three or four days after- 
ward, strange parties loaded a coffin on a train 
several miles from there, at a lonely little station. 
About two weeks after that event, a farmer boy, 
who lived some distance from the road-house, 
stopped in to see Josephine, whom he had become 
acquainted with. He was told by the proprietor 
that she had quit her job, and gone back to the 
city. 

But in some lowly home in Sweden at that mo- 
ment there sat a poor old mother, asking God to 
protect her beautiful child who was in a strange 
land. Truly, a strange land! That poor old 
mother did not know that her Josephine was 
where the power of man could not injure her any- 
more. But the millionaires and the proprietor of 
the little road-house knew it — and they also knew 
that they were safe from earthly justice behind the 
ringleader of the county. 

Walter Rallet 

Walter Rallet, a young man, unintentionally 
got drunk one night. He was at the county seat, 
and was picked up by the police, taken before a 
police justice, and given four days in the county 
jail. When he reached the jail, Walter was too 
drunk to walk, so he was dragged to the jail door, 
where the sheriff and the jailkeeper picked him up 
bodily, and slammed him into the cell. Walter's 



SS)m Reformation 33 

head went back with much force against the bars. 
Two prisoners in the adjoining cells watched all 
night, but Walter never moved again ! The next 
day his body was removed — and the jail physi- 
cian's certificate read that he had died from too 
much alcohol. Why should a young man who got 
drunk on whiskey which the county judge granted 
somebody a license to sell, have any rights which 
such an exalted person as a sheriff or jailkeeper 
would be bound to respect? 

The Man Who Did Not Serve Four Days 

Another young man was sent to a county jail 
for being drunk. The commitment read that he was 
to serve four days. He was sent up for four days 
because the justice of the peace had been informed 
that he was wanted in another jurisdiction for a 
very serious crime, and it was the magistrate's 
desire to give the authorities time to get the neces- 
sary papers to take him to the other jurisdiction. 
But the jailkeeper was of the same nationality 
as the young man; was of the same religious faith, 
and belonged to lodges that the young man be- 
longed to. They contrived to raise the costs, 
and the prisoner paid it, and the jailkeeper let him 
go before he had served two days. This was not 
the first time that prisoners had been let go before 
they had served the time of their sentences out. 
The authorities set up a howl! But the keeper 
said that the prema/ture release of the young man 
was due to an oversight. He said that there was 
a blot on the commitment paper, and he thought 



34 Dur Reformation 

it was a fine. It required a lot of thought to con- 
struct such an excuse! The jailkeeper was safe 
in the arms of the ringleader, and there was noth- 
ing done. 

Doran Did Not Get His License 

Thomas Doran was a poor Irish lad who had 
saved up a little money, and, seeing a chance, 
thought that he would like to go into the business 
of bottling and selling beer in a certain township. 
He employed a lawyer to make out the necessary 
papers to make the application for the license. 
He got the signers required by law, and took his 
petition to the county clerk, where the law re- 
quired it should be filed. Though it was none 
of the county clerk's business, that gentleman 
asked Thomas if he had a lawyer, and Thomas 
informed him that he had, and who it was. The 
county clerk informed Thomas that he had better 
employ Mr. So-and-so, instead, as he was the only 
lawyer who had pull enough to get the license. 
The county clerk did not tell Thomas that Law- 
yer So-and-so was anxious to get a license for the 
same kind of business in the same township 
for the sheriff of the county, as soon as the 
sheriff's term ended. Thomas was innocent, and 
he employed Mr. So-and-so. The lawyer got 
all the money he could out of Thomas, then when 
the day came for the court to pass upon Thomas' 
petition, Lawyer So-and-so called Thomas aside 
and told him that he did not think the license 
would be granted at that time, and advised 



fl)ur Reformation 35 

Thomas to withdraw his petition, so that it would 
not hurt his chances in the future. Thomas with- 
drew his petition, and by that act agreed not to 
make application again for one year. Before 
the year had expired, the ex-sheriff had applied 
for, and received a license to bottle and sell beer 
in that township ! Thomas opened his eyes, and 
wondered if he had been a victim of some sleek 
game. 

He Got Around The Law Against Selling 
Beer On Sunday 

Jan Kele, a Chinee— born in Dublin — had had 
a license for a long time, to bottle and sell beer 
in a certain borough, but Jan thought that if he 
could only work it to sell beer on Sunday, he 
would soon be wealthy, He brooded over the 
matter a long time, until, one day, he met the ring- 
leader of the county; broke a bottle of Mumm's 
Extra Dry with him, and told him his story. The 
ringleader told Jan w T hat he could do, and not be 
bothered. Jan went home happy. He did what 
the ringleader told him he could do. He got three 
Italians, who lived in different parts of the 
borough, into the scheme. Jan bottled and sold 
his beer at five cents per bottle on week-days, and 
made a profit of nearly four cents on each bottle. 
Besides the three Italians, he got three Hungar- 
ians, living in different neighborhoods, also in his 
scheme. He agreed with those foreigners (all 
of whom had houses full of boarders) that he 
would supply them with all the beer they wanted 



36 Due Reformation 

by the keg, and loan them the bottles, which they 
could fill and sell at ten cents per bottle; Jan to 
get five cents per bottle and the other five cents 
to go to the man who sold the beer. This scheme 
worked well, and Jan's bank-account began to 
swell. Of course, Jan went to church every Sun- 
day, and everybody thought he was a good man. 
The foreigners who were selling the stuff while 
Jan was in church, soon ceased working, and it 
was not long before those foreigners owned 
homes of their own. The authorities had had 
their instructions from the ringleader, and they 
saw nothing wrong going on. The licensed places 
in the borough had paid for their licenses, but they 
got no protection, regarding this matter. 

The Mine Boss Who Lived In One District 
And Voted In Another 

August Lumson, a mine boss, had a great politi- 
cal pull with the ringleader at the county seat, 
because August could dictate how the men em- 
ployed in the mines under him should vote. 
August did not live in the election district where 
the mines were located, but he insisted on voting 
there. Some "know-nothing" agitator talked 
about August voting where he did, but everybody 
else was afraid to say anything about it; until 
one election-day an old man — one of those who 
had defended his country on the field of battle 
from '6 1 to '65 — came early to the polling place 
and voted, but, contrary to his usual habit, it was 
noticed that he waited around the polling place. 



SDur Reformation 37 

After awhile August came in, prepared his ballot, 
and stepped up to put it in the ballot-box; but 
the old man challenged his right to vote in that 
district. August, after some ado, walked out, 
jumped into his automobile, hurried aw T ay to the 
county judge, got a paper, and returned. He 
showed the paper to the election board (all of 
whom worked under him in the mine) and the 
board let him vote. August then turned to the 
old patriot, and said: "I'll get square with you!" 
He did. The next grand jury indicted the old 
man's son, the old man's only support in that 
county — and the old man had to go away from the 
place of his birth into another county to live; 
where he could not molest August any more ! 

Yoke Hurt 

This story has been told many times. But it is 
so correct, and, as it has never been put in print 
so people could have a chance to read it, we pro- 
duce it here. Yoke Hurt was indicted by the grand 
jury for highway robbery. He and a companion, 
both under the influence of liquor, had waylaid 
and robbed an old man, and had gone and spent 
the money, which they had taken from him, for 
more liquor, because they were both victims of 
the appetite for intoxicating drink, and had to 
have it. It seems that Yoke had been assured 
that if he would plead "guilty," he w^ould be let 
off with a light sentence. He pleaded "guilty." 
He got three years! About the same time, two 
liquor dealers were arraigned for breaking the 



38 SDut Reformation 

law by selling illegally. They pleaded u not 
guilty," and gave bail for trial. Certain men, 
who seemed to have the peculiar faculty of know- 
ing all about how courts are run, went their bail; 
because it was intended to show the authorities up 
for daring to interfere with those men when they 
saw fit to break the law! The time came (be- 
tween the arraignment and the day of trial) for 
those men to renew their licenses — in order that 
they might carry on their business of selling 
liquor, for the purpose of handing down to pos- 
terity such men as Yoke Hurt. Of course, it 
would not be just to deprive eminent gentlemen of 
their right to sell liquor simply because they hap- 
pened (by a mistake, no doubt!) to be indicted 
as criminals; or, considering whom they were, 
perhaps the more refined word to use would be, 
"law-breakers." But it was deemed wise to make 
some kind of a splutter, because a certain fireman 
had recently been censured for being under the 
influence of strong drink at a fire. So the gentle- 
men who have the granting of licenses in their 
hands, asked the two indicted gentlemen who 
wanted their licenses renewed, if they did not think 
that it would be as well not to renew the licenses 
until it appeared that they were not law-breakers 
as charged; or words to that effect. Then the public 
was given an idea of how justice views the seller 
who breaks the law, as the public had already 
seen, in the case of Yoke Hurt, how justice views 
the buyer who breaks the law! One of the appli- 
cants for the renewal of license, sprang to his feet, 
and said: "There is nothing to those indictments. 



©tit deformation 39 

We should have our licenses renewed, because the 
prosecutor of the pleas has told us that if we would 
plead 'guilty' our fine would be only about forty 
dollars, and we could go on selling again." In 
other words: If they would acknowledge that 
they had broken the law, the same as Yoke Hurt 
had, they would be let down easy, the same as 
Yoke Hurt expected to be; because the Prose- 
cutor of the Pleas (who seemed to be able to 
read the mind of the Judge, or to know, at least, 
what would be done) had said so. The men who 
were to grant the licenses held them up for several 
days, to see if the culprits had told the truth. 
They had. They went back to court as quickly 
as possible; pleaded "guilty," were fined forty 
dollars each (which was a very severe fine for a 
liquor-seller to pay!) and they came back, smil- 
ing, to the gentlemen who had held up their 
licenses — and their licenses were renewed. 

Were those liquor men punished? Were they 
not confessed law-breakers, the same as Yoke 
Hurt? Why were they let go free, and given the 
same opportunity to break the law again, while 
Yoke Hurt was sent to prison for three years? 
Because: They had somebody who had influence 
working for them, and Yoke Hurt didn't. 

Of such stuff Justice is made, where the poli- 
tician is of more importance than the statesman. 

Jack Milliam's Newspaper 

In most every county in the United States the 
most important thing that the public needs now — 



42 SPut Reformation 

face while in Sunday clothes, and those of the 
solemn, tomb-like "aniens" — were playing those 
games, and dancing, in violation of the discipline 
of their church. The preacher's conscience kept 
whispering to him: "How can a man serve two 
masters?" One Sunday night he tried to serve 
Christ. He preached a sermon, filled with the 
holy fire of truth — a sermon against the vices of 
professing christians. 

Hypocrites are trimmers. They get as near 
any good thing as they dare get without getting 
anything good themselves. Hypocrites hate the 
truth — they love a lie, because their whole life 
is a living lie. The preacher most capable of 
keeping away from the truth and talking "gush"; 
that is the preacher they love — he is the man 
whom they will pay the biggest salary to: the 
shepherd that leadeth the flock into the house not 
made with hands! But the preacher who calls a 
spade a spade — who points the finger of scorn at 
the whited sepulchers — he is crucified just as 
were the true prophets of old time. 

The preacher in question PREACHED one 
Sunday night — preached a real sermon. His 
words scorched the rotten pillars of the church, 
and the air was not congenial to those who were 
not pillars. A few days after that sermon was 
preached, the preacher was invited to be more 
careful or seek another field of endeavor. Than 
the man who was delegated by the official board 
of the church to convey the news to the preacher, 
a verier hypocrite never disgraced his maker. 

There is a nation whose history reached away 



SDut Reformation 43 

back into the mists of the ages, when Christ was 
born; a nation which to-day requires less police 
force in proportion to its population than any 
other nation that has ever existed of which we 
have a record-r-and yet so-called Christians send 
missionaries to that nation to convert the heathen ! 
The Chinese infant is taught the doctrines of Con- 
fucius; such as these: "Have no depraved 
thoughts/' "Hold faithfulness, truthfulness and 
sincerity as first principles/' "Constantly strive 
after the good and to know the truth," "Respect 
parents, honor old age," and "Do not unto others 
that which you would not have others do unto 
you." The consequence is the high degree of mo- 
rality among China's vast population. Instead of 
sending missionaries to China, China should send 
missionaries to us. 

Creatures That Have Their Creator by 
the Throat 

A poor man has as much show for justice in 
the average court as a paper man with a nitro- 
glycerine suit on would have for a safe passage 
through the famous fiery furnace. John Pope 
drove an express wagon for Sam Fry. One day, 
while driving across a certain railroad crossing 
the wagon was struck by a special train, and de- 
molished; and the horse was killed and John Pope 
quite seriously injured. There were no signals 
of any kind at that crossing — not even a flagman. 
John sued the railroad company for damages. 
The engineer and fireman swore that they had 



44 2Dur Reformation 

blown the whistle and rung the bell; John swore 
that he did not hear any bell or whistle. The judge 
would not let John's case go to the jury; but non- 
suited it, on the ground that John's testimony 
w r as only negative evidence as against the evidence 
of the fireman and engineer that they did hear the 
bell ring, and the whistle blow. The statute in 
force in that State at that time, regarding such 
matters, provided: "In any action against any 
steam railroad company brought to recover dam- 
ages for injuries or death occurring at any cross- 
ing of the right of way of such steam railroad 
company, where such company has not installed 
any safety gates, bell or device usually employed 
to w r arn and protect the travelling public at such 
crossing, which injuries or death are alleged to be 
due to the negligence of said railroad company 
or its agents, the plaintiff in such action shall 
not be non-suited on the ground of contributory 
negligence on his own part or on the part of the 
person for whom such suit is brought, but in all 
such cases it shall be left to the jury to deter- 
mine whether the person injured or killed was ex- 
ercising due and reasonable care under the condi- 
tions existing at said crossing at the time of such 
injury or death." 

Was that statute really of any force or effect 
in John Pope's case? Was it not a clear case of 
the court disregarding the legislative fiat? 

Employers' Liability Law 

Labor has been fighting for a long time for an 
employers' liability law which would give the em- 



&)ur Reformation 45 

ploye equal justice with the employer in suits be- 
tween them in the courts. Every sane, unbiased 
man, who has given the matter a thought, knows 
that heretofore it has been the custom for judges 
to non-suit the employe at the slightest opportun- 
ity, thereby taking from the jury all chance to 
give the employe justice. 

Vill Seek was a rougher, and had worked all 
over the country at his trade, for some forty 
years. A certain company had had trouble with 
some of its men, and needed a rougher. It hired 
Vill, but did not inform him that the other 
rougher had quit because the iron which he was 
asked to work was unfit, as it was very dangerous. 
Vill went to work, and the company instructed 
the man employed for that purpose, to gradually 
work in the pile of dangerous, condemned iron, 
which the other rougher had refused to work. 

Result: While Vill was working (not knowing 
of what was being done), there was an explosion, 
and one of his eyes was blown out. When they 
carried Vill out, the superintendent said: "I told 
them we should not work that iron, as it was 
dangerous." Vill sued; and got in court. But 
the judge would not admit in evidence what the 
superintendent had said. It was not a part of the 
res gestae — too remote — about three minutes after 
Vill's eye was blown out! The judge asked Vill 
how long he had worked at the business. Vill said 
forty years. The judge thought that Vill had 
assumed the risk, was guilty of contributory negli- 
gence, or that the injury was due to the neglect of 
a fellow servant. All of which Vill knew no more 



46 SDur Reformation 

about than he knew about the dangerous nature 
of the condemned iron, which the company know- 
ingly had worked in on him; to save the trouble 
and expense of tearing down, cleaning and re- 
building the faggots. But ignorance of those 
things the judge thought was no excuse, so he 
non-suited poor Vill, who received not one penny 
from the willfully negligent company, w T hich had 
collected the insurance it had had on Vill; and 
kept it ! 

Shortly afterward the legislature passed an em- 
ployers' liability law which provided that assump- 
tion of risk, contributory negligence or fault of 
fellow servant, when set up as a defense, should 
be submitted to the jury as a question of fact to be 
decided by it, thus taking from the tyrant of the 
bench the power to non-suit when <he pleased. 

Immediately the employers got together to boy- 
cott the law. You know what an anarchistic 
word that word "boycott" is when used by labor 
— but it could not be a crime for the employer to 
boycott ! The employers, who desire us to be- 
lieve that they want to be fair with labor, and who 
believe in justice so sincerely that criticism of the 
courts is blasphemy to their ears, served this no- 
tice on their employes: u As your employer, we 
hereby give you written notice that the provisions 
of the employers' liability law, approved April 15, 
1909, are not intended to apply to the contract of 
hiring between us." 

Now, if the employers are not looking to the 
judge for favors in suits against them by their 
employes, why are they afraid to have a jury de- 



SDm Reformation 47 

cide such suits? Why should they send a notice, 
not worth the paper it is written on, to their em- 
ployes, and endeavor by such notice to set aside a 
legislative act, if they believe in justice to their 
employes? Only one object had they in view: 
To scare the employe into voting for men for 
public office whom the employer desires, so that 
such laws shall be repealed! 

Is labor sunk so far in the mire of slavery, as 
not to stand by the law that has done most to give 
it the justice which it should have in the courts? 

Malicious Taxation to Prevent Just 
Taxation 

In most every community there exist ordinances 
known as disorderly conduct ordinances. Many 
of these are laws passed for the sole purpose of 
preventing the enforcement of other laws. They 
are the method by which an unjust tax is levied 
on the poor, to save the rich from paying tax ac- 
cording to the true valuation of their property, 
both real and personal. Honest assessors would 
make such things impossible — and there are the 
churches of God, whose millions of wealth is un- 
taxed, while the widow and the orphan must 
render unto Caesar the tax that is Caesar's. Such 
churches are fishers of dollars, not of men! Such 
religion is sounding brass and tinkling cymbal ! 

Did you ever consider the injustice of the in- 
direct tax levied on the poor man, which increases 
the sufferings of his family, by disorderly conduct 
ordinances? Such ordinances are passed for the 



48 Dur Hefotmatton 

sole purpose of raising money to help defray 
municipal expenses, and in proportion to the in- 
crease of the amount raised by fines under such 
ordinances is the decrease of the amount raised by 
taxation of property owners to pay municipal ex- 
penses. 

All such ordinances are usually drawn in such 
a way as to deprive the defendant of the right 
of trial by jury. He must be tried before a judge 
appointed by the Mayor and Council of the muni- 
cipality — the same body that passed the ordi- 
nance. The prisoner is prosecuted by the counsel 
for the municipality — the lawyer who advises the 
officials of the municipality, including the judge, 
who hears such cases. The prisoner has been ar- 
rested by a marshal, or other police officer, who 
relies upon the Mayor and Council for his job; 
and whose evidence will be accepted by the judge 
in preference to the evidence of other witnesses, 
because said marshal, or other police officer, is an 
official of the municipality. Under these condi- 
tions in most municipalities, cases are rare where 
the person charged with breach of the disorderly 
conduct ordinance has been let go without paying 
fine and costs. 

An illustrative case: Pat Sweeney got drunk 
one Saturday night in a hotel which w T as paying a 
license fee to the municipality for the privilege to 
sell liquor to such men as Pat Sweeney to get them 
drunk. Pat started for home; but the marshal 
saw him, and also saw a chance to get a fine of 
ten dollars and costs for the municipality by tak- 
ing Pat in, and making a charge against him for 



SDur Reformation 49 

disorderly conduct. The marshal arrested Pat, 
and put him in the jail. Pat had to stay there 
until Monday, because the Recorder was a very 
religious man, and would not permit a little thing 
like Pat's liberty to interfere with the Recorder's 
right to worship God, with the solemn mien of a 
scurvy hypocrite — for to accommodate such men, 
God, in His infinite wisdom, had set apart a par- 
ticular day (differing in every respect from the 
other days) each week, and called it Sunday, after 
the Sun, because the Sun does not appear natural 
on that day, if it appears at all! 

Such men as this Recorder make more fuss 
over Sunday than over God — they worship Sun- 
days ; on all other days they do not worship — they 
are not Christians if Jesus was one. For Jesus, 
according to Luke (13th chapter, 15th verse), 
said: "Thou Hypocrite, doth not each one of 
you on the Sabbath loose His ox or His ass from 
the stall, and lead Him away to watering? And 
ought not this woman, whom Satan hath bound, lo, 
these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on 
the Sabbath day?'; 

Monday morning Pat Sweeney was .arraigned, 
denied trial by jury, fined by the Recorder on the 
advice of the municipal counsel and the evidence of 
the municipal policeman — and Pat's family that 
week and for a few weeks after, although abso- 
lutely innocent themselves, suffered because they 
had not the use of the money which Pat had to 
pay as a fine and costs to help defray municipal 
expenses, because Pat had got drunk in a hotel 
licensed by the municipality to sell liquor to get 



50 Dur Reformation 

such men drunk. That hotel could not have been 
bought the day Pat was fined for ten thousand dol- 
lars, but it was assessed, and the owner paid taxes 
on less than one thousand dollars' worth of hotel 
property ! The wayfaring man, though a fool, can 
see why Pat Sweeney was fined. 

The Tax Collector Who Wanted to Be 
Elected to a Higher Office. 

Once upon a time there was a tax collector in a 
certain municipality who was also a politician. He 
belonged to a family one or another of the mem- 
bers of which had been continually in office so long 
that the memory of man ran not to the contrary — 
thus illustrating how difficult it is to get the people 
even of a Republic to cease their belief in the 
hereditary monarchical form of government, 
under which nobody but the sons of a certain 
family are fit, seemingly, to fill particular offices, 
w r hile the sons of all other men, no matter how 
bright, are forever barred from such offices. This 
politician-tax collector was out around the polling 
places every election day electioneering for some 
one, usually a relative of his, for political office. 
He would go to the voter, and tell the voter that 
if he would vote for such a person he, the politi- 
cian-tax collector, would see that the voter's poll 
tax was paid. In this way he got a number of 
votes, and his friends went into office. The day 
came when this politician-tax collector was seeking 
a higher and more lucrative political office, and he 
used his little promise to pay the poll tax of those 



SDut iReformatton 51 

who voted for him for all it was worth. He was 
elected to the other office, and had to resign as tax 
collector — but not as politician. He maneuvered 
the election as tax collector of a friend of his, to 
whom he promised a raise in salary. The new 
tax collector went to work at collecting the taxes 
of the municipality according to law, and, finding 
a large amount of unpaid poll tax on the books 
for several years past, he got a constable busy 
after the delinquents. The voters who had neg- 
lected to pay their poll tax because the former 
politician-tax collector had promised to pay the 
poll tax for them, set up a howl. Some of them 
consulted lawyers, and things looked blue for the 
politician-tax collector. But, like love, the politi- 
cian always finds a way. Mr. Politician, the for- 
mer tax collector, persuaded the constable to go 
slow until he got a chance to arrange matters. He 
then persuaded the new tax collector to apply to 
the Mayor and Council for a raise in salary, and 
told him if he did not get it he ought to resign. 
The innocent new tax collector did both things 
that he was advised to do. Then the crafty old 
politician -ex -tax -collector got his prospective 
brother-in-law appointed tax collector of the mu- 
nicipality, and the back poll tax remained on the 
books unpaid. 

The Sheriff That Bought Votes. 

There was a certain Sheriff who went out 
around the polls on election day and paid to those 
voters who would accept the money amounts from 



52 flDut Reformation 

fifty cents to two dollars each — according to the 
respective valuation which they placed upon their 
votes. Those voters were hard working men, 
who chafed under a system which they knew was 
unjust, for three hundred and sixty-four days in 
the year — who grumbled, growled and found 
fault during that time about the miseries they 
were forced to endure, and who knew that they 
had elected that Sheriff to prevent just what that 
Sheriff was doing — yet those voters on the 365th 
day, by their actions, agreed to the continuation of 
the evils of the despised system. It is needless to 
say that the poor fools knew no better — it is also 
folly to argue that such men are fit to vote. Are 
they not products of centuries of our much-lauded 
Christian civilization? Are they not men, free 
born and patriotic? Would they not march upon 
the belching cannon of an enemy of the country; 
the country which they are destroying by bad vot- 
ing Sure, Dr. Johnson said patriotism is often 
the last refuge of a scoundrel! And we can con- 
ceive of no other kind of man in Dr. Johnson's 
vision when he so talked save such as that Sheriff, 
unless it was such voter. What say you to that 
stripe of government? What think you is the 
trouble when an official acts as that Sheriff acted 
after he had signed and pasted up the following, 
which was in his very sight when he bought those 
votes: u Any person who shall, directly or indi- 
rectly, by himself or by any other person in his 
behalf, give, lend or agree to give or lend, 
or procure, or agree to procure, or offer 
or promise to procure, or endeavor to pro- 



2Dut Reformation 53 

cure, any money or other valuable consideration 
or thing, or any office, place or employment to or 
for any voter, or to or for any person, in order 
to induce such voter to vote or refrain from voting 
or registering at any election, or shall corruptly 
do or commit any of the acts in this section men- 
tioned, on account of any voter having voted or 
refrained from voting, shall be guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be sen- 
tenced to disfranchisement for a period of five 
years from the date of conviction" — what think 
you of such a Sheriff? What think you of the 
system responsible for such a Sheriff? A system 
of hypocrisy! 

You may say this is too radical. To you who 
think so, remember: The history of the world 
witnesseth that truth is always radical, and that 
falsehood, either expressed or acquiesced in by 
silence, is always conservative. 

The Soldier Who Offered His Life for His 
Country. 

In the City of Detroit, Michigan, in the year 
1906, the writer often noticed an old man in blue 
uniform carrying a basket of oranges and bananas 
in ajjd out the large office buildings. After a while 
the writer became acquainted with the old man, 
and often conversed with him. The old man had 
been in the Civil War; he was a veteran of many 
hard-fought battles; he had been wounded several 
times, once very severely: a shell had exploded 
just above his head, and one could see a depres- 



54 SDut JMotmatfcm 

sion of probably half an inch covering the crown 
of his head. He was hardly able to tote the weary 
load of his basket of fruit, which he peddled to 
earn his bread. True, he received a small pen- 
sion — as most soldiers do ! — from the great, and 
grateful, country which he had helped save, so 
that afterwards he could be deformed, diseased 
and crippled, and suffer out the years of a life of 
deprivation. He knew the government had not 
used him right, "but," said he, "what soldier has 
the country used right?" I replied, "The soldier 
of capitalism — the politician." He said, "Yes; 
because our worship is of the God of Gold." 

Can anyone refute the statement of that old 
soldier; he whose head was broken in the service 
of his country? Ah, I shall never forget that 
head! Nor the man who carried that head! He 
may have gone to a better land ere this — a land 
of conscience — but if there be such place, only the 
conscientious are there, and that eliminates a vast 
multitude of beings (so-called men) who have 
lived on earth. 

Fall of the Poor Man's Last Pleasure. 

For many years in all parts of the United States 
there had been one source of pleasure free to all 
men; and the poor man, at very little expense, 
could get recreation and sport in most any com- 
munity with his dog and gun, in pursuit of the 
game which was so plentiful before aristocracy 
began to preserve it by law — for the sole benefit 
of aristocracy. There is a hidden reason why the 



SDui Reformation 55 

poor man should not hunt: it is better that the 
poor man should forget how to shoot — better still 
if he had no firearms at all! Likewise, until re- 
cent years the worker could have the pleasure of 
fishing without molestation. But those days have 
gone — especially in the Eastern States, "where 
wealth accumulates and men decay." Every- 
where the man who owns no land is confronted by 
notices against trespassing, posted either by indi- 
viduals or clubs. In addition, in many States a 
license must be had before one can hunt. What 
working man will get a license to hunt when there 
is no place for hirn to hunt? So you see how nice 
it all works out for the man who owns the land 
himself, or is a member of a club that owns the 
land? And as all the land is really owned by a 
few men or a few clubs, each year the number of 
those who hunt, in proportion to the population, 
is less, the time being not far away when those 
who dare hunt will be but a few, as they are in 
England now. 

There is nothing that gives stronger evidence 
of the increasing power of the aristocracy in the 
United States, nor of the increasing servility of 
the working class — the producing class. 



56 ©ur Eeformatton 



CHAPTER III 



The Desire for a Great Moral Uplift Is 
Influencing Our Body Politic 

The thoughtful voter knows now that if one set 
of men are kept in office continually, public busi- 
ness will be carried on with an utter disregard of 
the rights of the people. The student of man 
knows that the successful man grows arrogant, 
independent; believes there is no such thing as 
failure for him, and consequently holds in con- 
tempt the rights of all other men. Parties are 
made of men — officeholders are men! Keep one 
party continually in power; keep one set of men 
in office all the time, even hand it down from 
father to son or keep it in one family — and the 
rights of all other men are in danger. No politi- 
cal party is grand enough when it first comes into 
power to be worshipped by any sane man; and 
every political party begins to grow in corruption 
from the day of its first victory. Your country 
should be the object of your adoration, and you 
should strive to make it grand and free. Do not 
strain your nerves to demonstrate that you are a 
patriot on the Fourth of July, but demonstrate 
by how you vote that you are not a traitor on elec- 
tion day. The Fourth of July is not near as 
important as election day — the former re- 
lates to the past; the latter to the future. 



Due Reformation 57 

In so much as the forefathers made the 
Fourth of July a day in history by doing some- 
thing for our good, let us resolve to do something 
on election day that will be of benefit to posterity. 

Men are opening their eyes to these things. 
The law of political evolution is driving men on 
to better government, and to justice to^all men. 
There is a good deal of political and social unrest 
throughout the world — it is caused by the battle 
of humanity ^gainst the dollar; it is being brought 
about by the relentless struggle of the House of 
Want and Toil against the House of Have and 
Idleness. Conditions demand sane, wise, level- 
headed consideration. The problems to be solved 
are full of complexity — and perplexity. We must 
not fear to be honest, we must take more counsel 
of conscience; and let us not omit justice. 

Tyranny is hateful, in the hands of the people 
or in the hands of a despot. The oppression of 
the minority by the majority is tyranny. Nothing 
is gained by rescuing an individual from the abso- 
lutism of a king if he is afterward handed over 
to the absolutism of the majority. But neither of 
these is worse than the tyranny of public servants 
elected by the people to represent them, or the 
tyranny of the political trickster, called the politi- 
cian, who bosses those public servants. 

The fault is not altogether with the people, for 
many times they have voted "for a new deal and 
secured not a new deal but a new dealer, who shuf- 
fled the same old pack of marked cards and 
walked away with the cash." Many voters have 
become disgusted and stayed away from the polls, 



58 ©ur Reformation 

while others by force of habit look for the money 
which they have been used to getting before 
voting. 

With an honest system of voting — a ballot that 
cannot be handled by the political heeler, and hon- 
est election boards — with the initiative and refer- 
endum and the recall, and strict, impartial en- 
forcement of the law — we shall be taking a long 
stride toward the better era. 

The recall should extend to the judiciary. To 
assert that judges are above corruption or im- 
proper prejudice and that they are always efficient 
is absurd. They were boys with the men who have 
gone into other lines of business and professional 
activity. They were taught the same principles in 
religion, received the same instruction at the same 
school, enjoyed the same sports, were subject to 
the same temptations, indulged in similar vices 
and cherished the same ambitions. Why should 
there hang a halo of sanctity around the head of 
the judiciary Because a man finds favor with 
some political boss and is placed upon the bench, 
is he superior in honesty or efficiency to the man 
who came up through life with him and got a seat 
in the legislature? They say place the recall on 
the judiciary and the 'bench will listen to public 
clamor. The judge now looks to the political boss 
for his appointment. Will anyone say that a judge 
who will listen to popular clamor will not also 
yield to the wishes and interests of the political 
boss? If the judiciary now is above the influence 
of the political boss, it will certainly also be above 
the influence of popular clamor. 



£Dur Reformation 59 

Every wise employer reserves the right to dis- 
charge an employe whenever the service rendered 
is unsatisfactory. This right rests upon the same 
basis as the right of the employe to quit. Any 
public officer can resign his position at any time; 
isn't it absurd to deny the right of his employers — 
the people — to discharge him whenever the service 
he renders is unsatisfactory? If we can trust an 
individual to deal justly with the people when he 
considers tendering his resignation, we can also 
trust the people to deal justly with the public ser- 
vant^ when they consider discharging him. The 
public servant has the right and power to quit his 
office at pleasure; the people should have equal 
right and power to discharge him from office 
whenever they believe they can be more faithfully 
•and more effectively represented by another. 

Senator Jonathan Bourne, Jr., of Oregon, 
speaking along this line, recently said in the 
United States Senate: "We have -heard much in 
recent w 7 eeks about 'the rule of the mob' in con- 
nection with the initiative and referendum and the 
recall. Those who wish to do so may refer to the 
people as 'the mob.' A mob is a body of men 
acting against law, order and justice. Legisla- 
tures sometimes do this — the people never, if 
given an opportunity to act in a lawful way. I 
grant that where wrongs have been long imposed 
and remedies have been denied, the people finally 
resort to force to redress their grievances, just as 
they did in the American Revolution. Resort to 
force came only after every peaceful means had 
been tried in vain and when longer endurance was 



60 SDm Reformation 

impossible. To some this is mob action. I am 
disposed to give it a higher characterization; and 
though it is an overthrow of existing authority, I 
regard it as the establishment of law and order 
in the highest sense. When the people of a re- 
public, exercising their inherent right to change 
their law r s and constitutions, vote to adopt new 
and better systems of government, I deny that this 
is mob action; it is the establishment of law and 
order. The overthrow of a misrepresentative 
system maintained by political machines enjoying 
dictatorial powers, and the substitution of a true 
representative system means the attainment of 
higher standards of human justice and equality, 
and, consequently, of a more peaceful and more 
nearly perfect government. The voice of the 
people should be the law of the land, and since 
the initiative and referendum and the recall regis- 
ter the voice of the people, they are the best me- 
diums for the establishment of the best govern- 
mental principles. " 

As the people are striving for better govern- 
ment, they must make themselves familiar with the 
several plans proposed by students of politics and 
political economy. 

The Socialists propose some strong principles in 
which they claim are to be found the remedies for 
present evils in government. Citizens should be- 
come familiar with their theories, as the future is 
bound to bring us face to face with the doctrines 
of Socialism. 

The Socialists claim that periodically indus- 
trial breakdowns paralyze the life of the nation, 



SDur deformation 61 

each era of prosperity being followed by one of 
general misery. Factories, mills and mines close 
and millions of men, who are ready, willing and 
able to provide the nation with all the necessaries 
and comforts of life, are forced into idleness and 
starvation. That within recent times the trusts 
and monopolies have attained such enormous and 
menacing development that they have acquired 
the power to dictate the terms upon which we shall 
be allowed to live — fixing the prices of bread, 
meat,^ sugar, coal, oil, clothing, raw material, and 
machinery — all the necessaries of life. 

The Socialists offer those who are out of work 
unwillingly immediate government relief: by build- 
ing schools, by reforesting of cut-over and waste 
lands, by reclamation of arid tracts, by building 
canals, and by extending all other useful public 
works — under the direct employ of the govern- 
ment, w r ith an eight-hour w T ork day, at the pre- 
vailing union wages. That for the purpose of 
carrying on public works, the government shall 
also loan money to states and municipalities with- 
out interest. 

As a remedy from the wrongs caused by the 
power of the trusts and monopolies to dictate the 
terms upon which we shall be allowed to live, So- 
cialists are in favor of the collective ownership of 
railroads, telegraphs, telephones, steamship lines, 
and all other means of social transportation and 
communication, and all lands; they are in favor of 
the collective ownership of all industries which are 
organized on a national scale, and in which com- 
petition has virtually ceased to exist; they are in 



62 SDur Reformation 

favor of the extension of the public domain, to 
include mines, quarries, oil wells, forests, and 
water power; they are in favor of the scientific 
reforestation of timber lands, and the reclamation 
of swamp lands — the land so reforested or re- 
claimed to be permanently retained as a part of 
the public domain. All of which means the own- 
ership and management by the people, collectively, 
of those things which are essential to the life of all 
the people. 

The Socialist party alleges that each time the 
workers are placed in a desperate condition be- 
cause of lack of opportunity to work, there is a re- 
newed onslaught on organized labor — there is 
more apparent evidence of the class war which is 
being continually waged between capital and labor 
and that the courts, high and low, render decision 
after decision depriving the workers of rights 
which they had won by generations of struggle: 
revealing the existence of a far-reaching and un- 
scrupulous conspiracy by the ruling class against 
the organization of labor. Socialists declare that 
capitalist conspirators have violated statutes and 
constitutions, state and federal, in a manner 
seldom equaled anywhere; that the Congress o£ 
the United States has shown its contempt for the 
interests of labor as plainly and unmistakably as 
have the other branches of government; not only 
have laws for which labor has petitioned failed 
to pass, but laws ostensibly enacted for the benefit 
of labor have been distorted against labor; that 
the working class cannot effect any remedy for its 
wrongs from the present ruling class, nor from 



SDui i&eformation 63 

either the Republican or the Democratic parties, 
so long as a small number of individuals are per- 
mitted to control the sources of the nation's wealth 
for their private profit in competition with each 
other for the exploitation of their fellow-men. 
Socialists say that individual competition leads in- 
evitably to combinations and trusts, and that no 
amount of government regulation, or of publicity, 
or of restrictive legislation, will arrest the natural 
course of modern industrial development, which 
is only a step in economic evolution — 'the next step 
being the ownership by the people of the means of 
production and distribution of all those things 
which are essential to the life of the whole people, 
and without which their life is impossible. 

Furthermore, the Socialist party declares that 
while the courts, and the legislatures, and the ex- 
ecutive offices remain in the hands of the ruling 
classes and their agents — politicians, etc. — the 
government will be used in the interests of those 
classes against the toilers; that political parties, 
being but the expression of economic class inter- 
ests, the Republican, the Democratic, and the so- 
called "independent" parties, while financed, 
directed and controlled by the representatives of 
different groups of the ruling class, are bound to 
be equally guilty in the maintenance of class gov- 
ernment. 

These are cogent arguments, and cannot be an- 
swered by ridicule, slander, nor appeals to history, 
or<to religious prejudice. Neither can they be ig- 
nored. The human family is face to face with 
them. They must be met and met by intelligence. 



64 ©at Reformation 

The Socialists' campaign is one of education; the 
masses must be raised mentally to an understand- 
ing of the evils which exist and the remedies pro- 
posed. The world desires to avoid another rev- 
olution like the French Revolution. 

The various "reform" movements and parties 
which have sprung up within recent years are but 
the clumsy expression of widespread popular dis- 
content. Citizens are disgusted with the political 
system which produces Lorimers and Stephensons 
in national government; Murphys, Barnses, "Jim" 
Smiths and Nugents as State rulers, and Coxes 
as municipal bosses, and are reflecting the growing 
distrust of the voters, who find their choice of pub- 
lic officials sought to be confined to two sets of 
mercenaries. There are symptoms of incipient na- 
tional revolt. All this is acknowledged as true in 
a recent editorial in the New York Press, a stal- 
wart Republican newspaper. It said also: "The 
American people are cautious of such experiments, 
so they are willing to try Socialism at first in a 
restricted field. The test does not try out all the 
proclaimed advantages of the Socialistic pro- 
gramme, but at least it affords relief from munici- 
pal bossism, and meanwhile it demonstrates more 
efficiency than the boss system can show for its 
justification. . . . Socialism's best friends are 
the bosses who drive voters out of the old parties 
when they get together to bleed a city or a State 
or to debauch Congress and bring a President into 
half-tolerant contempt. Every time officers sworn 
to enforce the law equally against rich and poor 
boldly proclaim immunity for the wealthy crimi- 



£Dut Reformation 65 

nal, and every time judges send the friendless to 
jail while they pass small fines on the influential 
law-breaker, they make a few more Socialists. 
Representative Berger does not want to 
enforce the Sherman law. He believes in mo- 
nopoly just as much as Morgan and Gary and Car- 
negie believe in it. He would not send Rocke- 
feller to jail. He would take the Standard Oil 
Company away from Rockefeller and run its busi- 
ness 4 by the people.' " 

Pin this in your hat, however: That the great- 
est force in the Socialist movement is the intelli- 
gent understanding of the historical development 
of civilization and of the economic and political 
needs of our time, which every real Socialist has — 
the knowledge of economic evolution. These men 
have not read their history upside down, nor have 
they read the stuff, called history, that the poor 
student in the public school has crammed into his 
head. Not dates, and battles, and the tutti-frutti 
manners of kings, queens, popes, etc.; no, the man 
who knows why he is a Socialist knows real his- 
tory. Don't forget that! 

Socialists want: 

1. The Absolute Freedom of Press, 
Speech and Assembly. What person would 
deny these rights, which are absolutely essential to 
freedom under any government? It seems that 
only those whose deeds are dark, and who fear 
publicity, can oppose such measures. The straight, 
honest man, whose acts are just, does not fear 
freedom of press, speech and assembly. Neither 
does such a man desire to dictate the policy of a 



66 SDm Reformation 

newspaper because he advertises in it. Where the 
advertiser, or other patron, dictates to the edito- 
rial writer, where the padlock is put upon the lips, 
where the policeman's club prevents assemblage of 
the people for free discussion, there there is sure 
to be some form of rottenness which some one 
fears to have brought into the light where it may 
be seen and criticized by the people. Shame on 
nineteen hundred years of preaching and practis- 
ing Christianity, if mankind cannot now be trusted 
with freedom of press, speech and assemblage ! 

2. The Improvement of the Industrial 
Condition of the Workers : 

(a) By shortening the work day in keeping 
with the increased productiveness of machinery. 

(b) By securing to every worker a rest period 
of not less than a day and a half in each week. 

(c) By securing a more effective inspection 
of workshops and factories. 

(d) By forbidding the employment of chil- 
dren under sixteen years of age. 

(e) By forbidding the interstate transporta- 
tion of the products of child labor, of convict labor 
and of all uninspected factories. 

(f) By abolishing official charity and substi- 
tuting in its place compulsory insurance against un- 
employment, illness, accidents, invalidism, old age 
and death. 

Is there anything in the foregoing that is not 
consonant with better government, and the ad- 
vancement of civilization? These objects are 
within the true aim of every right thinking man 
that ever existed: the betterment, the uplift, of 



SOut Reformation 67 

mankind into a really first-class state of civiliza- 
tion, into a government where there shall not be 
a Dives nor a Lazarus. 

3. Unrestricted and Equal Suffrage for 
Men and Women. 

The conceited man will not approve of this, be- 
cause he thinks woman inferior to him. Men who 
sell their votes, and politicians who buy those 
votes, won't sanction the right of suffrage for 
woman, because the chances are that woman's vote 
will be for better homes, and consequently better 
government. No working man's wife is overjoyed 
at seeing the wives and daughters of the idle get- 
ting all the good things of life, while she is forced 
to appear shabby and half-starved, so the working 
man's wife will vote for justice. 

The woman who admires the poodle-dog so 
much that she does not desire to be a mother, she, 
of course, should not have much say in govern- 
ment, because she does nothing for the human 
family — she does not fill the mission she is on 
on earth. She is egotistic; the effort of her life 
is self-satisfaction. She has too much voice in gov- 
ernment now, just as the man who does not know 
why he votes a particular ticket has too much voice 
in government, to the earthly damnation of his 
fellow-man. 

If there had not been a mother, however, there 
would not be any egotistic man holding up his 
puny protest against woman's suffrage. Woman 
is the reason for government. Should not the 
reason for government have a voice in govern- 
ment? Woman supplies the soldier to be offered 



68 ©ut Kefocmaticu 

up as a living sacrifice that government might en- 
dure; she supplies the man that does the work that 
makes everything there is of value in the world; 
she is the inspiration to all progress — she makes 
everything else worth while. But she is not per- 
mitted to use the ballot as a protest against wrong, 
or to help the right to triumph. We give the vote 
to the drunken sot, the ignoramus, or the alien, be- 
cause he is a male ; w T hich gives him an inalienable 
right to it! Woman, the burden-bearer; she who 
effectuates government, and is so effected by gov- 
ernment, is not ! 

The man who believes that she is not, is not 
w r orthy of anything better than a drunken sot, or 
an ignoramus, for a mother, wife or daughter. 
How can he respect his mother, his wife, or his 
daughter, and believe in such doctrine; the doc- 
trine of woman's slavery? Let him consider this 
matter, and Reason will shame him. 

4. The Initiative and Referendum, Pro- 
portional Representation and the Right 
of Recall. 

We have hereinbefore treated of these subjects. 
It is sufficient now to add a few lines about the 
initiative and referendum. The ''initiative" 
means that a certain per cent, of the people can 
at any time start or prepare a law and submit it 
to the vote of the people. The "referendum" 
means that any law or act passed by any legisla- 
ture must be submitted to a vote of the people 
before it becomes a law, providing a certain per 
cent, of the people so demand. These are the 
only measures by which the people can get what 



SDttr Kefotmation 69 

they want when they want it, in regard to law. 
Anybody who knows how easy representatives get 
out of doing what the people want done, will 
favor the initiative and referendum and the recall. 
Misrepresentation is the cause of these measures. 

5. The Enactment of Further Meas- 
ures for General Education and for the 
Conservation of Health. 

It is needless to bring argument to sustain these 
propositions, for every person capable of un- 
biased thinking knows that there is nothing of 
more good to the human family than health or 
education. No human being ever had enough of 
either. 

6. That All Judges Be Elected by the 
Pfople. 

The people are the employers of the judiciary 
— the judges are the servants of the people in the 
judicial branch of government. The people give 
the person who is made a judge whatever dignity 
attaches to that office, so there is no sense in say- 
ing that the judge will lose his dignity if he must 
trust to the vote of the people for his office. The 
judge relies upon the politician now for his dig- 
nity, and, judging from the average politician, the 
judge ought to be proud of his source of dignity! 

When the judges are elected by the people for 
short terms they will be more anxious to serve the 
people, and see that justice is meted out to all 
men; and that is the only purpose for which any 
court was ever created. The only halo of dignity 
any judge ever had encircling his head came from 
the fact that the people knew that he was honest, 



?o Dut i&eformatton 

square and just, and did his duty in the proper 
manner. There all the honor lies. 

Such a judge need not fear to go before the 
people for re-election, and none other is worthy 
of it. 

7. The Free Administration of Justice. 

In the first and second chapters of this work 
there can be found many reasons why free admin- 
istration of justice is necessary. 

It should be remembered, too, that laws are not 
designed to enforce rights upon the people, but 
to protect the people in their rights. The rights 
of man must everywhere all the world over be 
recognized and respected. 

In conclusion, again we remind the citizen of 
the necessity of calm judgment and action as we 
pass the present crisis. 

Remember that near the close of the Revolu- 
tionary War Thomas Jefferson said in his "Notes 
on Virginia" : "The spirit of the times may alter, 
will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our 
people careless. A single zealot may commence 
persecution, and better men be his victims. It can 
never be too often repeated, that the time for fix- 
ing every essential right on a legal basis is while 
our rulers are honest and ourselves united. From 
the conclusion of this war we shall be going down 
hill. It will not be necessary then to resort every 
moment to the people for support. They will be 
forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. 
They will forget themselves, but in the sole fac- 
ulty of making money, and will never think of 
uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. 



<2l>uz Reformation 71 

The shackles, therefore, which shall not be 
knocked off at the conclusion of this war will re- 
main on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, 
till our rights shall revive or expire in a convul- 
sion." 

How prophetic! 



THE END. 



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